Uncategorized

Men with a high risk of prostate cancer recurrence could live longer if hormone treatment is given alongside radiotherapy after surgery, a new study has suggested. The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the treatment could also reduce the risk of the disease spreading.Professor Nick James, a Cancer Research UK-funded expert in prostate cancer at the University of Birmingham, said the results could be “practice-changing”. “It shows that the benefits in terms of relapse and survival are both clinically and statistically highly significant,” he added. The US-based clinical trial looked at 760 men whose prostate had been removed with surgery after diagnosis, but who had the risk of their cancer spreading, as defined by a blood test. Following surgery patients received radiotherapy to try to kill any cancer cells that may have been left behind. Then over the next 2 years, half received an anti-androgen drug called bicalutamide while the other half received a placebo. The study found that the men who received the drug had a slightly higher chance of being alive 12 years after the start of the trial than those who took the placebo.

See original article at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-us/cancer-news/news-report/2017-02-03-hormone-drug-and-radiotherapy-could-extend-lives-of-prostate-cancer-patients-after-surgery